Notre Dame won nine of 19 events Saturday at Northwestern.

No. 25 Notre Dame Downs Toledo, Nipped By No. 21 Northwestern

Jan. 10, 2009

Complete Results

EVANSTON, Ill. – In its first dual-meet style competition in over two months, the 25th-ranked Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team split Saturday’s tri-meet at the Norris Aquatics Center with No. 21 Northwestern and Toledo. The Irish handled Toledo, 268-83, while falling to the host Wildcats by a 178-173 margin. In fact, Notre Dame led by four points heading into the final race of the night (400 Free Relay) which came down to the wire with Northwestern prevailing by less than four-tenths of a second.

Despite the narrow defeat to Northwestern, Notre Dame was victorious in nine of the meet’s 19 events.

The Irish now hold a 3-1 dual-meet record heading into a showdown with Louisville on Jan. 17 (Saturday).

400 Medley Relay: The meet got off to a great start for the Irish, who finished just ahead of Northwestern in the opening relay … Maggie Behrens, Samantha Maxwell, Kellyn Kuhlke and Amywren Miller teamed for a time of 3:47.24.

500 Free: Lauren Sylvester paced the Irish distance crew with a 4:57.55, good for second overall … Amy Prestinario (4:58.22) was third and Casey Wagner was fifth (4:58.60).

100 Free: Miller (51.45) finished a tad behind Emily Wong (51.41) of Northwestern … Delia Cronin posted her fastest time of the season in 52.61.

200 Breast: In 2:16.04, Maxwell was first among the pack … no one came within two seconds of the Irish record holder.

100 Fly: First place went to Katie Casey (56.37), her top mark of the campaign … Kuhlke was sixth overall with a time of 57.85.

200 Back: Lauren Parisi posted a season-best 2:02.21 which put her in second place … Prestinario (2:08.37) was fifth and Behrens (2:08.41) was sixth.

200 Individual Medley: Third-place nods headed to Megan Farrell (4:24.97) … she was two spots ahead of Emily Barton (4:28.91).

200 Free Relay: Silver went to Christa Riggins, Cronin, Kuhlke and Miller (1:35.10) … Miller’s time of 22.74 was the fastest of any swimmer in the race.

200 Medley Relay: Colleen Fotsch, Maxwell, Kuhlke and Miller racked a second-place finish in 1:44.30, just off the winning Wildcat time of 1:44.04.

200 Fly: Casey shelved another win, this time coming in 2:00.73 … Claire Hutchinson (2:04.73) wasn’t too far behind and Barton (2:06.66) was fifth.

200 Free: Farrell barreled through for first in 1:50.17 … Prestinario kept her hot streak going with a time of 1:51.80 and second-place honors.

100 Breast: Maxwell breezed through for first in 1:02.42.

50 Free: Miller was first in 23.30, followed by Cronin (24.23) who was fifth.

100 Back: Parisi was solid with a second-place effort of 57.17 … Behrens (58.11) took third and Riggins put together a fifth-place finish with a time of 58.77.

1,650 Free: Going the distance was Sylvester (16:53.46), who was second overall … Wagner was fourth in 17:04.79 for Notre Dame.

200 Individual Medley: Farrell finished just off the lead, taking second in 2:04.96 … Prestinario went 28.76 in the last leg for fourth and a final time of 2:05.73.

400 Free Relay: Northwestern (3:24.40) edged the Irish in the evening’s final race … Parisi, Farrell, Prestinario and Miller teamed for a 3:24.77.

3-meter Diving: The first four spots went the way of the Irish … Heidi Grossman (271.30), Lucy Hirt (262.75), Natalie Stitt (262.50) and Theresa Hall (254.85) rounded out the commanding Irish attack.

1-meter Diving: Stitt (291.95) was first, while Grossman (279.10) took second … Hirt (238.50) had a fourth-place showing while Tiffany Robak (236.85) had the fifth-best score on the day.

–ND–